I don’t know if this is a bug or is this how the images work, hosted on imgur. It basically adds a query string. I added a profile pic as gif but it doesn’t work as how gif images work. If I goto the image url it works fine.

I am glad it doesn't work on the profile page and URL.
–
Oded♦Jan 17 '13 at 14:58

imgur doesn't support animation when it resize the image on the fly.
–
Shadow WizardJan 17 '13 at 15:01

16

So your bug report is "it's not animated"? I'd call that a "feature". Not nauseating your users (or not allowing users to post animated content) is a definite plus (especially in a professional setting). I assume you can't use an animated Gravatar either, so that should have stayed the same.
–
Joachim SauerJan 17 '13 at 15:02

3

Please tell me you're only trying this out as a 'proof of concept', and you don't really want an animated brain-ache image as your profile pic?
–
JonWJan 17 '13 at 15:16

2

+1 for trying to test. I'd +100 if I could because your test shows that animation is blocked (quite a relief)
–
gnatJan 17 '13 at 15:18

2

@Anna I won't call it by design. The ?s=[number here] wasn't added to the profile pictures URL to block animation but to preserve bandwidth and improve the speed. Blocking animation is just a side effect, and for all we know imgur might decide one day to support animation when resizing their images. This is by-design on imgur side. :)
–
Shadow WizardJan 17 '13 at 15:35

1

@ShaWizDowArd No, disabling animation is very much by design on our side.
–
Anna Lear♦Jan 17 '13 at 15:36

@Anna nope.. (like I said, the reason it's not animating right now is due to the added ?s=128 or ?s=32.
–
Shadow WizardJan 17 '13 at 15:37

@ShaWizDowArd Okay, let me spell this out. Disabling animation in profile pictures even if you uploaded an animated gif is by design. If Imgur fixes their resizing so that it lets animations through, we'll have to find another way to disable them. See Tim Stone's answer on this question as well.
–
Anna Lear♦Jan 17 '13 at 15:40

I am so amused that this question has got an answer with 19 votes. but the question itself has -8 points. ppl on stackoverflow are crazy and that includes me as well.
–
anonJan 17 '13 at 18:37

1

@refhat It happens; there's even a badge for it. In this case, people clearly disagreed with the idea that animated gifs should exist; hence, down voting your question, and up voting the answer. Makes perfect sense.
–
Andrew BarberJan 17 '13 at 20:13

@AndrewBarber: My question wasn't that why doesn't animated gif work on my profile. I just brought this to notice on meta, giving my feedback as I assumed it may be a bug.
–
anonJan 18 '13 at 1:15

Crap, it's too late to edit. I'll have to flag for a moderator to do it for me. I WILL FAZE YOU YET!
–
PëkkaJan 20 '13 at 19:02

I wonder whether it's possible to create a GIF header that passes Stack Exchange's filters but causes a browser's sloppy image library to render an animation. Probably the only reason to delve into the GIF format spec in 2013!
–
PëkkaJan 20 '13 at 19:04

I think they're relying on the fact that a gif image requested with a size parameter from imgur will actually be sent back as a jpeg of the appropriate size, so I think you're out of luck on that one :P
–
Tim StoneJan 20 '13 at 19:15

I wondered about doing something similar with PNG/MNG...
–
uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐNApr 22 '13 at 23:00

Forget that - apparently the g=1 query string parameter prevents this from working. But I came pretty close :P
–
uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐNApr 22 '13 at 23:51